The global apparel trade continues to rise despite the global geopolitical situation. The World Trade Organization (WTO) shows apparel trade growth of 7% during the first half of the year compared to the same period last year. For the full year 2024, growth remained at 2% compared to the full year 2023.
In textile products, growth was 7% in the first six months of the year compared to the first six months of 2024. However, last year did not grow at all in year-on-year terms, as reported in the WTO’s Global Trade Outlook and Statistics released recently.
Along with the strong performance of fashion trade, the agency has also raised its forecast for world merchandise trade volume growth in 2025 to 2.4%, up from 0.9% estimated in the August interim report. This is slightly lower than the same period in 2024, when it stood at 2.8%. However, the outlook for 2026 has been lowered to 0.5%, noticeably below the 1.8% estimated in August.
